WAG Is strength training worth it?

[Beammom08]

My daughter has been competing her bail on bars for two seasons now. At every meet, she bends her arms when she reaches the low bar, causing her drag her feet in her kip out of the skill. This has been a frustrating issue for her for these past few years, as she has tried many different strategies but is still unable to avoid getting deducted on this part of her routine. Some of her teammates found that lower-body strength training helped make a huge difference in their floor and vault routines, so I was wondering if doing upper-body strength training would be beneficial to her bar routine? She has told me that other gymnasts her age don’t often do strength training for bars, but I would love to know if anyone else has any similar experiences and would be willing to share their thoughts?

 

[newbie504]

I'm no expert but i would say definitely. My daughter is only on preteam and they do strength training every class

 

[estamey21]

Can you clarify what you mean by “strength training”? A large portion of gymnastics practice should be dedicated to strength training. The type and intensity of strength training will vary depending on age, level, time of year, etc.

Are you asking if additional strength training will help your daughter (on top of what she is already doing)?

 

[Beammom08]

Can you clarify what you mean by “strength training”? A large portion of gymnastics practice should be dedicated to strength training. The type and intensity of strength training will vary depending on age, level, time of year, etc.

Are you asking if additional strength training will help your daughter (on top of what she is already doing)?

Yes, additional strength training. Her gym does a lot of conditioning during practice, but mainly focuses on lower-body exercises, which is why I was thinking that doing some extra upper-body exercises might help with her routine.

 

[GymDadWA]

Conditioning and strength training are not accomplishing the same thing. A marathon runner has superior conditioning, but a sprinter has much greater strength. The intensity and reps are not the same for building strength/power vs endurance even if the exercises are the same.

With bars in general many of the skills are timing related where additional strength can in a way be a hinderance. Think about the kip where some girls start with a muscle up because they are strong enough to do it and don't understand the timing yet.

 

[estamey21]

Conditioning and strength training are not accomplishing the same thing.

Ok I see what you’re saying. I guess in the context of anaerobic strength training and aerobic conditioning, it’s hard to know what would be more useful for the OP’s daughter without understanding the root cause of her problems (could be strength, could be endurance, could be bad technique, etc.).

 

[HopefulGymnast]

With bars in general many of the skills are timing related where additional strength can in a way be a hinderance

Personally I don't know if I'd agree it has to be a hindrance. I think with strength, it's easier to learn the correct technique if you're corrected. If you lack strength, you may start compensating and that can form bad habits.
In the example you gave, yes if you can muscle up a kip and you don't get corrected on it, that can cause trouble. But if you lack the ab strength to pull your legs to the bar, you may tuck your legs to do this and that can form a bad habit too if not corrected.

Personally, I think for bars you need strength, endurance and technique. Both the explosive strength and endurance are important. Without endurance you won't get through your routine, but without explosive strength you can't get the power in some elements that you need.

At every meet, she bends her arms when she reaches the low bar, causing her drag her feet in her kip out of the skill.

This could be all kinds of issues, it could be strength, endurance or technique. Some things she can maybe look at:
- Does she eat/drink enough in general and at meets? (Endurance and strength depend on good nutrition too)
- Does she bend her arms when she's practising the bail in isolation? If not, then it could be an endurance issue or an issue with how she gets out of the skill before the bail. For example if the skill before the bail ends nearly in dead hang, it'd be hard to get a good bail out of it.
- It could be an issue with the bail: if she ends it in the wrong position then bending her arms may be the only way to catch the bar.
- It could be arm strength or body awareness: does she bend her arms a lot on other skills, such as handsprings or on vault?
- If she has the issue even when she doesn't bend her arms, it could be ab strength.

Really, with so many possibilities it's something for her and her coach to sit down and have a good look at.
I'm not a coach though, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.